måndag 21 september 2015

Hej Jorge!

This is not a report. Not a scientific material. Not even anything that would give you any kind of intellectual boost. Instead, it is about Jorge, my friend and probably yours too.

Many of you might be thinking now that I’m writing this just to make him happy. In fact, yes! But why I am writing an article to make him happy? I could buy him a litre of beer that would make him happier, I believe. On the other hand I do have a strong motivation behind writing about him. Today (on the 19th of September) I saw his “whole family” waiting in front of the lab for him to finish his work. And what I liked to see there was nothing else but his dedication. Many of us who really know him won’t be surprised. We had seen him working day and night, 24/7.

Couple of months ago (precisely, before the summer this year) we all saw the report in the Swedish newspapers: “Svamp ger mer etanol i Norrköping” (link to the article: http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/energi_miljo/bioenergi/article3901452.ece). The article is about our biotechnology group at SCRR that had made a remarkable milestone in research by transferring a novel technology that was developed in our lab to industry. Behind the content of the report, which is less than 400 words, what I really saw was a strong idea, motivated with hundreds of sleepless nights that Jorge might had spent in our lab to make this working in its perfect shape. From growing fungi in an Erlenmeyer flask to produce ethanol in massive reactors, he very probably had missed out a lot of his Friday nights... We all had seen him making it happen. An idea growing really big: in real flesh and blood!

Hats off my friend, you really deserve more than a “Congratulations!” or a “Good job!”. You had done something that most of us are really proud of. You had proved that being a PhD student is not only publishing articles or attending conferences; instead it’s something more aspiring.

Now it’s time for you to be proud and defend your thesis.

Good Luck my buddy!

Ram

Editor’s note: thanks Ram for your kind words and indeed, we are also proud of you, Jorge ☺